"The NHS will last as long as there are folk left with the faith to fight for it"Aneurin Bevan

Monday, 30 May 2011

More on Warner

I posted last night about Lord Warner's business interests. The reason was that I remembered how he tried to scupper the attempt by the previous government to try and do something about the impending crisis in social care. It wasn't just that his action was nasty, it was because he was making his comments at just the wrong time politically - just before an election. he knew that his comments would be detrimental to Labour's image and the only result would be a Tory government. Yet Warner is always described as a Labour peer.

Basically the rather hapless Health Minister Andy Burnham was belatedly trying to sort out the issue of funding social care - then (and it is still the case) social care is means tested so those with savings of over £23,250 are excluded. The problem is that £23k does not go far when it comes to social care (last year the Audit Commission said that the average cost of residential care was £980 per week). Burnham wanted to make social care in people's homes free to a wider group of people and he claimed that the plans were costed. Warner tabled an amendment against the plans saying that he thought they weren't costed. The problem, politically, was that someone who was being described as "former Labour Health Minister" was in opposition to the current Health Minister's plans just months before the election. Government's lose elections because the electorate thinks they are no longer competent, and this calculated action from Warner was designed to make the public think that the labour government was not competent.

When you do an internet search on Warner, you come up with some interesting results. For example, earlier this month he was cavorting with 2020Health. These are the people who want us to pay for GP appointments. What is a Labour peer doing within 100 yards of such people?

Deloitte, the business advisory firm, is today announcing the appointment of Lord Warner as a strategic adviser to its public sector practice. Lord Warner will work with Deloitte’s clients enabling the successful delivery of health and social care policies.

The man has "privatise NHS" written all over him. Isn't it time Labour disowned him?